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2012 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000
The '''2012 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 '''will be an Australian touring car motor race for V8 Supercars, the twenty-first race of the 2012 International V8 Supercars Championship. The race is scheduled for Sunday, 7 October 2012 at the Mount Panorama Circuit on the outskirts of Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. Background The 2012 race will be the sixteenth running of the Australian 1000 race, which has first held after the organisational split between the Australian Racing Drivers Club and V8 Supercars Australia that saw the Bathurst race run twice in 1997 and 1998, with one race open to V8 Supercar entries, and the other open to Super Touring Cars. The schism was repaired in time for the 1999 race, with the race being exclusively run for the V8 Supercars. The 2012 race will also be the 56th race for which the lineage can be traced back to the 1960 Armstrong 500 - held at Phillip Island - and the 53rd to be held at Mount Panorama; the two seperate races of 1997 and 1998 are recognised as four individual runnings of the event. Race organisers plan to use this race to celebrate the 50th year since the race first moved from Phillip Island to Mount Panorama in 1963, though it was not until 1973 that the race was run over 1,000 kilometres (620 mi); from 1963 to 1972 , the race was run over 800 kilometres (500 mi). The Holden Racing Team drivers Garth Tander and Nick Percat are the defending race winners. Entries All twenty-eight cars that contest the regular V8 Supercar season took part in the race, plus one "wildcard" entry - a car that was only entered in the endurance races - a Holden Commodore prepared by Minda Motorsport and operated by Kelly Racing. Each car was driven by its regular driver, who contests the full International V8 Supercar Championship, and a guest driver, who only competed in the Bathurst race and its prologue, the Sandown 500. The guest drivers were recruited from a variety of racing categories, including the Dunlop Development Series (such as Nick Percat, the partner of Garth Tander), the V8 Ute Racing Series (such as Chris Pither, the partner of David Wall), and the New Zealand-based V8 SuperTourer Series (such as John McIntyre, the partner of Will Davison), among others. Each driver had to complete at least 54 laps of the race, with the teams given freedom to allocate those laps. The only exception to that applied to the Kelly Racing-Minda Motorsport "wildcard" entry. The car was driven by Cameron Waters and Jesse Dixon, both of whom won the opportunity to drive as part of the "Shannons Supercar Showdown", a reality television programme created by Kelly Racing. Waters, who won the 2011 competition, was a late entry to the grid; the car was originally scheduled to be driven by Dixon, the 2012 winner, and Australian television personality Grant Denyer. However, Denyer was forced to withdraw from the race two weeks prior due to a shoulder injury, and Waters was drafted in to replace him. Together, Waters and Dixon formed the youngest driver line-up to enter the race in its fifty year history. Entry list Report Free practice The first free practice session took place on the Thursday morning before the race, a fifty-minute timed session open to all drivers, though most teams chose to only run their primary drivers. The session passed without incident, and Michael Caruso - driving for Garry Rogers Motorsport - finished the session fastest, one-tenth of a second ahead of championship leader Jamie Whincup and the Ford Falcon of Shane Van Gisbergen. Cameron Waters, driving the Kelly Racing-Minda Motorsport wildcard entry, finished in twenty-ninth and last place, five and a half seconds behind Caruso, and two and a half seconds behind the Kelly Racing sister car of Karl Reindler and Daniel Gaunt in twenty-eighth place. The second forty-five minute free practice session on Thursday afternoon was limited to co-drivers. Britek Motorsport's Chris Pither became the first driver to crash when he locked up one of his front wheels at the end of Mountain Straight, understeering into the tire wall on the outside of Griffins' Bend. Although the damage was minor, the session was suspended for thirteen minutes to allow the circuit to be cleared, and the car was retired to the garage for the remainder of the session. Warren Luff - partner of Craig Lowndes in the #888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore - finished fastest, ahead of Andrew Jones and Steven Richards. In his first appearance in a V8 Supercar, Jesse Dixon finished twenty-ninth, the Kelly Racing-Minda Motorsport Commodore setting a fastest lap that was five seconds slower than Luff's time. Stone Brothers Racing driver Lee Holdsworth also took part in the session, depsiting being a primary driver rather than a co-driver, testing Ford's "Car of the Future" prototype to gather data on type performance for tyre supplier Dunlop. Holdsworth also drove the car in two of the Dunlop V8 Supercar Series support race practice sessions. The first day of running ended with a fifty-minute session late on Thursday afternoon. Like the first session, it ran without incident, though drivers were cautioned when kangaroos were spotted along Conrod Straight. Jamie Whincup ended the session fastest, half a second faster than Will Davison. The session was suspended twice due to incidents; the first came when Tony D'Alberto made contact with the wall at McPhillamy Park, damaging his front tyre and D'Alberto decided to stop on the circuit rather than risk further damage to the car ahead of qualifying. The second interruption came shortly after D'Alberto's car was cleared from the circuit when Tim Slade got caught in the gravel trap on the outside of Murray's Corner. After Pither's accident sidelined the Britek Motorsport car for most of the second session, the car was repaired and its regular driver, David Wall was able to complete the session, finishing twenty-third overall. Summary Thursday Friday Qualifying The forty-minute qualifying session was held on Friday afternoon. It decided positions eleven through to twenty-nine on the grid, with the top ten drivers advancing to the Top 10 Shootout, to be held on Saturday afternoon. During the Friday session, drivers were free to complete as much running as necessary to set a competitive lap time, but with the knowledge that their tyre allocation for the weekend was limited and that they would have to qualify on tyres that they would later use in the race, the drivers had to balance their desire to set a fast time against the need to preserve as many tyres as possible for Sunday's race. The session was red-flagged and suspended almost immediately, when Holden Racing Team driver Garth Tander locked one of his tyres up at the end of Mountain Straight and understeered into the barrier on the outside of Griffins' Bend. Tander was able to remove himself from under the wall with largely cosmetic damage, and he limped back around the circuit to the pits while safety crews cleared the fluids spilled by his Holden Commodore in the accident. Tander's team were able to patch up the damage using sheets of tape, and while he was later heard on the team radio complaining of his inability to stop the car and seen spinning at Hell Corner, he would ultimately set a lap time that would prove fast enough for a place in the Top 10 Shootout. Michael Caruso set the early pace in the session, but he was unable to maintain it for long and was soon passed by the Ford Performance Racing cars driven by Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison. The lead changed several times throughout the session, but it was not until Jamie Whincup set his first competitive lap time that the leader board began to stabilise. Elsewhere, several other drivers encountered troubles; James Moffat very nearly spun coming out of the Skyline, and was forced to apply opposite lock to his steering wheel to avoid the walls. He later speared off the road at the Chase, having misjudged his breaking point and running through the grass on the outside of the left-hander. Jason Bright had a similar accident but, like Moffat, was able to avoid the walls. As the session began to wind down to a close, drivers started producing lap times that were increasingly competitive. Jonathon Webb, Jason Bright, Rick Kelly and James Courtney had all looked to secure places in the Top 10 Shootout, but all were pushed out in the final minutes. After forty minutes, Whincup had set the fastest time, ahead of Fabian Coulthard, who had produced a late flying lap to secure second. Mark Winterbottom edged out team-mate Davison for third place, ahead of Craig Lowndes, Shane Van Gisbergen, and Tim Slade. Despite his early incident, Tander recovered to eighth, having run as high as third before the final push for laptimes. Steve Owen and David Reynolds both qualified in the top ten, though Reynolds was forced to wait anxiously as several other drivers - including Lee Holdsworth and Webb - still had enough time to record one final flying lap, though neither were able to pass him. Webb ultimately missed the cut-off by seven hundredths of a second, leaving him eleventh alongside Bright, with Kelly and Courtney filling out the seventh row of the grid behind them. Holdsworth's final lap left him fifteenth, alongside early pace-setter Caruso. Team-mates Moffat and Steven Johnson took seventeenth and eighteenth, infront of Michael Patrizi and Todd Kelly in the second Jack Daniels' Racing car, in what would be his final appearance in a Holden, having injured his shoulder in a training accident that would force him to miss the final four races of the 2012 season, while his team would switch to racing the Nissan Altima in 2013. Dean Fiore and David Wall out-qualified 2011 pole-sitter Greg Murphy in his second race back from a recurring back injury. Tony D'Alberto qualified twenty-fourth in the slowest of the Ford Falcons, ahead of Russell Ingall in twenty-fifth and Jack Perkins in twenty-sixth, Perkins having qualified the Garry Rogers-prepared Fujitsu Commodore in the place of regular driver Alexandre Prémat. Taz Douglas and Karl Reindler completed the last full row of the grid, leaving Cameron Waters and Jesse Dixon in twenty-ninth and last place, two-point-seven seconds adrift of Whincup's time. Post-qualifying Race stewards gave Tekno Autosports' Michael Patrizi and Jonny Reid a five-place grid penalty for blocking Jason Bright during the Friday qualifying session, which Bright claimed prevented him from securing a place in Top 10 Shootout. Patrizi, who had qualified in twentieth place on merit, will start the race from twenty-fifth place instead. Final starting grid Race Paul Dumbrell, who started from second on the grid, made the best start, but pole-sitter Will Davison was able to stay with him through Hell Corner and up Mountain Straight, seizing the lead by driving around the outside of Dumbrell though Griffins' Bend. Dumbrell was soon passed by Shane Van Gisbergen, who started applying pressure on Davison. Meanwhile, Mark Winterbottom made a poor start and slipped down the positions, fighting with Tim Slade and David Reynolds over seventh place. Steve Owen also went backwards at the start, having overshot his grid position when the grid was formed, and being overwhelmed by the fast-starting cars around him as the field headed up Mountain Straight. Tyre management quickly became a big issue, when Craig Lowndes was forced to pit after just eleven laps due to a tyre failure. Winterbottom was forced to also make an early stop with a similar problem, and both plummeted back down the order. The effect was somewhat negated by the first safety car when Jonny Reid, co-driver of the #91 Tekno Autosports entry, ground to a halt on the narrow climb out of the Cutting. Davison, Dumbrell and Garth Tander all elected to pit immediately, while Van Gisbergen stayed out on the circuit to take the lead of the race. Davison changed places with co-driver John McIntyre and quickly rejoined, but Dumbrell's stop was compromised when the team needed to change the drivers'-side window, and by the time Jamie Whincup pulled out of the pits, he had lost a place to Nick Percat, the Holden Racing Team having used the slow stop to get the Tander-Percat Commodore out ahead of Whincup. Most of the field stopped to pit under the safety car, and once racing resumed, McIntyre led from Lowndes and Luke Youlden and Dean Canto in Van Gisbergen's and Reynolds' cars respectively; Canto quickly reeled Youlden in and passed him as they emerged from Forrest's Elbow and the circuit opened up onto Conrod Straight. Whincup's lead did not last long, as he had to return to the pits with a delaminated tyre and fell to twenty-first; McIntyre reported a similar problem and pitted, but the Ford Performance Racing pit crew found nothing wrong with the tyre and he rejoined in twenty-second as Lowndes inherited the lead. Percat triggered a safety car when he crashed coming down through The Esses on the approach to Forrest's Elbow, and although he was able to return to the pits under his own power, he had left a trail of debris along the racing line, necessitating the safety car. His Holden Racing Team crew would ultimately be able to repair the car and send it out, but twenty laps off the lead. Meanwhile, the field pitted again, but Whincup and McIntyre remained out and resumed the race in first and second. By this point, only Whincup, Lowndes and Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport driver Taz Douglas were the only regular drivers on the circuit, and Whincup took full advantage of a field of co-drivers to build up a thirteen-second lead. Whincup's strategy began to work against him when the race saw the third safety car in the space of just fifty laps. Having just stopped for a brake pad change, Steve Owen found himself at the end of Mountain Straight with no brake pressure and spun at speed into the barriers on the outside of Griffins' Bend. Owen was uninjured, but the car was severely damaged, and would not return to the race. The field bunched up again, and Whincup handed control of his car back to Dumbrell as the rest of the field swapped for their regular drivers. Craig Lowndes was held up in the pit lane waiting for Whincup to complete his stop and fell from fourth to twelfth as a result, while John McIntyre spun at Hell Corner and was forced to perform a three-point turn to escape the run-off, dropping from second to twentieth. More problems ensued when he made his scheduled stop and left the car in gear once it was raised onto its jacks; as the spinning wheels were dangerous for the pit crew, the team was handed a penalty by race stewards. Back on the circuit, Dumbrell took advantage of the slower, non-pitting cars of Craig Baird - driving for Lee Holdsworth - and Andrew Thompson, sharing with Slade, to hold off Reynolds, Jason Bright, Michael Caruso, James Courtney and Van Gisbergen. Classification Qualifying 50th year celebrations Teams competing in the race chose to commemorate the fiftieth year of the event, with several commissioning special liveries inspired by historic race-winning cars: *The #18 Moffat-Davison Falcon was modelled after the "Tru-Blu" Ford XD Falcon driven by team principal Dick Johnson at the 1980 Hardie-Ferodo 1000. The car was also re-numbered to carry the number 17, which was used by Johnson in the 1980 race. The Steven Johnson-Allan Simonsen entry, which normally used the number 17 during the regular season, was reassigned as #18. *Ford Performance Racing commissioned liveries for the Winterbottom-Richards and Davison-McIntyre Falcons based on the liveries used by the Moffat Ford Dealers team when they claimed a one-two finish in 1977. *The Reynolds-Canto entry was restyled after the livery used by Harry Firth and Fred Gibson when they won the 1967 race. The car's number was also changed from #55 to #52 to further reflect the 1967 livery. *Craig Lowndes paid tribute to his mentor and nine-time Bathurst winner Peter Brock with a replica of the livery used by Brock when he won the 1982 race. However, the car carried Lowndes' #888 instead of Brock's traditional number, 05, as the number was retired by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as a sign of respect upon Brock's death in 2006. The design also carried minor modifications as the original car was sponsered by Marlboro, and with tobacco sponsorship of sporting teams and events now banned in Australia, the changes were needed to prevent the car violating these laws. *Karl Reindler and Daniel Gaunt designed a "new retro" livery for the #11 Holden VE Commodore loosely inspired by cars of the 1960s. Several other teams, including Stone Brothers Racing, Kelly Racing, Britek Motorsport, Tekno Autosports, and Walkinshaw Racing also raced with special liveries, but these were not inspired by historic designs. Category:2012 in V8 Supercars